Power & Love
by Vader'sMistress
Summary: What Mary thought was a miracle, turned out to be her worst nightmare and her attempt of undoing the evil she birthed, leads her to a road filled with regret and misery.
1. Death

_"**I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." -Revelations, 11:3**_

Mary was so afraid when she found out she was pregnant. A part of her wanted to throw up –not because of the morning sickness (oddly enough, she never experienced any); it was the realization that she was going to be a mother. Something she was wholly unprepared for.

She tried to convince her father that she was a virgin, innocent as the day she came into this world. Untouched by man. But her father, being her father, didn't believe her. She could barely look at her mother who was completely disappointed in her. Finally one day, when Mary attempted to explain to her what had happened, she broke.

"You ruined everything. I should have known. You have your father's blood after all."

Nothing hurt Mary more than hearing her mother indirectly calling her a whore. She waited until everyone was asleep so she could slip from the castle.

Everything was a mess. Her father had gotten his annulment. He was going to marry that Francophile, English rose, Anne Boleyn; she and her mother were the laughing stock of Christendom, and on top of that, the child in her womb faced a life of great uncertainty.

Making her way through the woods, she stopped. She didn't know how long she had walked, only that her legs were about to collapse.

Mary had gazed at the moon that night, wondering if God had heard her prayers and would send his angel of death so he could take her and her unborn child to him. But death never came.

Mary was found on the morrow by two guards, shivering from the cold. Her mother was sick with worry. She was still angry at her, but seeing her daughter so frail, had softened her a bit.

After her father had his longed for male heir with Anne Boleyn followed by a daughter, things to slightly better. Henry increased her pension and sent her a nursemaid for when her child arrived. The prospect of being a grandfather, even to a bastard, no longer felt unpleasant.

When the day came, Mary's fears about her child evaporated.

Healthy looking with her dark grey eyes and fair skin, Mary marveled at the beautiful creature she delivered.

"Have you ever seen something so beautiful?" She asked her mother. The former Queen was taken with emotion. She told Mary about her brother, the babe she had lost less than two months after she gave birth to him. Mary told her mother she would call her child 'Henry' after her brother and father but Catherine was against it.

"What name then? It can't be Arthur. That will be reserved for a future legitimate offspring of my father's line with that woman." Mary said, refusing to call Anne by her new title of Queen, knowing how that would upset her mother. "And it can't be any of the other traditional royal names."

It was a tough decision to make. Thankfully, they had a former handmaiden whom the republic had rescued and brought to Earth to live in one of the less violent kingdoms. Her name was Shmni Skywalker and besides Susan, she was Mary's best friend.

Shmni proposed the name of "Anakin". "It means gift from the sky." She explained to them.

Mary ended up naming her baby Anakin. As the years went by, Anakin grew close to Shmni. She was his nanny and after his mother, she was the person he loved the most.

The former princess didn't see it as a problem until the Jedi came and with them, that damn succubus. If only their paths had never crossed!

Mary knew she was trouble the moment her son laid eyes on her. But Shmni! Good hearted and naïve Shmni, told Anakin to follow her heart. And to everyone's detriment, he did. The worst thing Mary ever did was listening to her best friend. Also convinced by the gallant promises of the Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn, she gave her son up to be trained as Jedi.

For once, Catherine was in agreement with Shmni Skywalker. Mary had done the right thing. Anakin could achieve her true potential as a galactic protector. Mary wished she could believe that. But her mother had never been wrong before so for her sanity's sake, Mary chose to go along with what her mother said.

Mary Tudor received many offers of marriage. Most of them she turned down until her father invited one of the German League's honored guests. Two years after her mother's death and one after Anne's; Henry VIII had entered negotiations to marry Anna von Kleves. She always wore over-sized gowns and had a difficult time communicating with her husband's subjects. But after half a year of struggling, the new Queen Anne adapted herself to her husband's country. This new development led to a growing influence. Aided by the English Protestant faction, Anne convinced the King to invite her cousin.

Mary wasn't interested in meeting another suitor but her father was incredibly insistent. Out of all of her friends she was the only one who wasn't married. Shmni had married the rake Thomas Seymour while Susan had married a more respectable man at court.

In the end, like everything else, it didn't matter. Shmni's death sent him down the rabbit hole. Encouraged by that two-faced pretty politician, he became more ambitious, coveting things he couldn't –and should never- have.

Mary tried to drill common sense into him. Shmni and her husband's deaths were an accident. But Anakin went off the rails. He blamed it on his grandfather for agreeing with the republican officials who sent them on that suicide mission on Tatooine. He killed an entire village of Tusken Raiders and after that, poisoned Gardulla the Hutt, leaving Jabba as the new crime boss of that scummy planet.

Night after night, Mary prayed that her mother had not been right. Before she died, she said she had a vision. She told Mary that she saw Anakin's father. "That is impossible. Anakin has no father. I told you."

"No, he has and he will use him to spread his evil across the galaxy. He is a child of darkness, Mary. You know what you must do."

Mary refused to believe her mother. But the blindfold fell from her eyes when Anakin massacred everyone at the Jedi Temple, including innocent children. After hearing what had happened to his wife and unborn child, he beckoned her to come to his new chambers. His face was partly burned. Instead of one robotic hand, he now had too.

Things were going to change –he promised her. Together, he swore, they would rule a galaxy where decency and fairness would be the rule of law. Mary wished she could believe him. She really did. But after everything she'd witnessed and heard, she knew in her heart what she had to do.

* * *

The last things that pass through her mind was her father carrying her in his arms, showing her off to the French ambassadors, crying "She never cries." It was then and there that she was nicknamed the "pearl", that she became her father's most precious possession.

_Good times._ Holding tightly unto life, she closed her eyes and let herself be lost in that sea of memories.

She was thirty five. She and Philip had been blessed at last with a child. Anakin and her had finally gotten used to the idea of their respective spouses. The Jedi let him visit his mother. He brought with him his apprentice, an alien girl Ashoka Tano who was every bit of impetuous as him.  
Anakin was happy to be a big brother. Mary named her newborn son John after her mother's lost brother.

John was four years old. He clapped his hands at Anakin. So much of John reminded her of Anakin when he was his age. Philip was always there for them. The boy was his spitting image, except for his eyes, which were dark grey like hers and his half-brother's. Every time John excelled in his studies, Philip gave him a gift. John loved his father's gifts but loved his brother's praises more.

After losing his apprentice, Anakin welcomed his brother's company.

Mary opened her eyes. There, in the corner, was John. Staring at her as if she was a complete stranger. She did not smile or asked for the stormtroopers to bring him to her. She'd much rather see him like this. Cold and detached than show weakness before this dark clothed monster that had replaced his brother.

God is on my side, was Philip's motto. Philip. Poor lovesick fool. _He died as he lived, fighting. Bavaria, if it still exists, will be proud to know that he gave honor to his nickname. Philip "the warrior". They will sing songs of him. Of the enemies he battled, the ones he defeated and the one he couldn't because of the woman he gave his heart to._

Not a single tear fell from her eye. She was as her father always said, the girl who never cries. _Mother, here I come …_

One last prayer before she went, she begged God to help her son find the light … _There is good in him, I know it. I can feel it; he can still be saved._


	2. Darkness strikes back

"Where am I?"

"Earth." A lonely soul answers another lonely soul.

"I … died." The concept seems so foreign to her but nothing should surprise her anymore. After all, wasn't Anakin who ran his lightsaber through her? "Did he do it?"

She needed to know. Luke, he's all that matters now.

Marissa shook her head.

Mary let out a powerful shriek. The woods were deserted. Every sign of life had been wiped out by the First Order. The only living creatures were them.

"He was supposed to break the wheel. He was the one who was promised. It was written in the stars. Obi Wan said so himself!"

"Obi Wan." Marissa chuckled. She gestured to the tomb next to her greenery.

"How is that possible?"

"It is a brand new world. Everything is possible." Marissa said. She led Mary to the tomb. There, plain for everyone to see, was his name. "He thought he could undo the mess his apprentice's descendants caused but all it did was bring him back to an ungrateful galaxy."

"So it was all for nothing." Mary said. She shifted her gaze to Marissa. "Why bring me here?"

"I brought you here? Oh no, no, you got it all wrong Princess. I didn't bring you here. It was," she paused then smiled. She raised her closed hand, lifted her middle finger pointing upwards to the night sky.

"It's not possible. The knowledge of Plagueis died with him."

"It lives on through his bloodline. I am sorry sweetie, destiny isn't done with you yet."

When will it be done? "Will you at least tell me what happened to Elizabeth?" Mary asked. Her sister was one of the few lucky ones who had escaped the purge of all royal houses by the Empire and later the First Order.

"She is safe … waiting to see her big sister again." Marissa said, giving the former Princess another smile. Cryptic (or perhaps it was deceptive? Mary could never tell with her) as her next sentence. "We are all waiting, the children of the dark side together at last, ready to serve the second coming of our messiah."

* * *

**_Mary Speaks ..._**

When a mother lets go of her child, she expects to see him spread his wing and fly to where he can thrive. I wish that could be the case with both of my sons … but instead of bringing me hope, Marissa's words left an erasure of the last bits of hope my soul was clinging to …

I was a fool to think that I could challenge fate … It was written, way before my time, that the wife of the lamb would bear a child of darkness who'd corrupt the righteous and turn innocents into monsters.

This is my legacy … a legacy of corpses and broken dreams.

* * *

There is no way of knowing what to expect but seeing her sister brought a smile to Elizabeth's wrinkled face. Her appearance shocked her sister. Why should it not? "Just look at you!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Her voice was raspy but the old royal was still full of life. "Still the same as when you left."

**Left.** That last word unnerved her sister. Elizabeth could tell. Elizabeth could always tell. Mary wasn't a hard woman to decipher. To everyone she was, but not for her. She wasn't a lesser creature like the dirty urchins she curried favor with.

_No matter. All the dirty urchins are gone now. She has us. **Only us**_**.** "How does it feel to be back among your kind?"

"It feels …" She lost her voice.

"It's too much for you isn't it? I know. I could not believe it when I heard it. I chortled like a mad person but then Qi'ra and Marissa showed me the Sith holocron and how it could be done, and I laughed no more." Elizabeth sighed. A long sigh followed by a chuckle that sounded like a cackle. "The galaxy has no idea what's in store for them."

* * *

Death is only the beginning. In the eyes of the dark lord of the Sith, there had been no better vessel than the virgin womb of a Princess whose father descended from the dragonborn Pendragon and the accursed exiled witch of Dathomir, Melusina.

Her parents' annulment made it more perfect. With a royal brat on the Tudor cradle, the King would not see his bastard daughter's bastard as a threat to his trueborn son.

There was one flaw however … One small miscalculation on his part had led to the destruction of his empire and the betrayal of his apprentice.

Disappointing. But where one door closes, another one opens.

In death, he had found a way to turn the tables on everyone, starting with the accursed Skywalkers …

Now it begins … _Once more the Sith will wait in the shadows, until the right time comes to show our faces and reclaim what is rightfully ours._

To the winner all the spoils. Palpatine will have what every Sith has longed for.

The Empire will be seen as a force of good. The one responsible for bringing peace, putting an end to a war-torn galaxy that had previously been unappreciative of their efforts. _It will be as it always should have been._


	3. Forced Acceptance

_**What if I told you that there was a better way? Would you believe me? Of course you will but once you heard the solution you'd turn your back on me. That's the fate of every woman. Or so I have been told. I refuse to believe that I was fated to give birth to Anakin just so then he could kill me and I was brought back to life with the purpose to entice my descendant to the dark side.**_

_**It takes away what little hope I have left. Bess words hurt me more each time. Her voice is like poison. I beg her to stop but she keeps going.**_

"Anakin was meant to be the one who turned the tides but he failed so now it falls unto Ben Solo or Kylo Ren as he childishly insists." Bess chortled. "Out of all the good Sith names, he chooses a terrible one. He and his acolytes do not know what is coming."

"You shouldn't be cocky. Palpatine failed once."

"Third time is the charm." Mary knit her eyebrows. Bess laughed again, this time at her sister's worried state. "You always loved gossiping with lady Seymour. Endless hours, reminiscing about the good old days and dreaming about what the future will hold. Now it's our time to shine. Our family is special. The Force chose you for a reason when it could have chosen other women to bear the chosen one." Her tone became less mocking. "You do not want to hear this but I have to repeat it, otherwise you will never fully comprehend the gift that has been bestowed on us."

"Pray tell me, sister what is this wonderful gift? Hmm? Stealing others merits? Poisoning the youth of our enemies with false promises then watching with glee as they collapse under the weight of their failures?"

"You are being over dramatic. Palpatine wants to bring order to an unruly galaxy. You were always our father's pearl, were you not? How many times did you complain about the lack of civility and open hostility towards you? Don't tell me the bitter memories of court still don't rankle you. They do rankle me. Everyone with any drop of humility left won't have to go through life being a victim like you and me. He intends to wipe the slate clean."

"Like a pearl." Mary said. "It is too much for one man. What about those that choose not to be cleansed by the all powerful Sith?"

"The perfect society requires sacrifices. Order comes at a price, sister. Our father understood that. It is why no one, including your cousin, ever succeeded in deposing him."

"Do you want to give me a history lesson, Bess? Is this what this is or you just want to see me suffer? Or both?"

"Oh Mary, when it comes to common sense, you are so quick to catch on things but fail to show it. Your endless suffering is a weapon. You can't let it go. What do you have left if you do? Nothing except your beauty and that can be taken away as easily as your life. Without that, you can be the greatest spokesperson, a celebrated queen and scholar but no. You choose instead to cling on to the only thing you were taught gives you value: your pain. And you are good at using it to drive even the sanest person who can see through you mad and the gullible, sad because they can't see through you."

"Pot calls the kettle back. Likewise, you are only good at-"

"Oh stop it Mary. The pity party is over," Bess snapped. Before her sister could turn her back and go back to her room, Bess motioned to the praetorian guard who stopped her sister in her tracks. Mary was forced to face Bess again.

"That is how it is going to be from now on. You listen and shut that mouth of yours. Your toxicity isn't useful. Your descendants are going to toe the line and you are going to sit here and watch."

"Why me?"

"Why ask questions you already know the answer. Do yourself a favor and relax. We won." Bess said. Her grin widened. "We are finally free and the fruits of our labor will soon pay off. The galaxy will be at peace. No more threats from within or petty squabbles. We will finally rest in peace."

Mary felt dread in the pit of her stomach. A knot formed in her throat. She wanted to throw up. This was all wrong. There had to be a way to get a message across to the new republic. The threat is not Snoke. It's this monster. It's dark tentacles have reached my sister and countless others. But who would listen to a walking corpse?


End file.
